Seven... thousand? Srsly?

So I just noticed that I have 6,999 posts in the sidebar of my reply in another thread.

Which makes this one #7,000.

Traditionally, at every 1,000 post border, you're supposed to drop a major post about all the stuff you've learned and how important the forum has been.

So here's the thing I've been learning over the last thousand posts.

Most of the people here don't really know or care what internet marketing is. They think it's a kind of business. But "internet marketing" in and of itself is not a business, any more than "computer programming" or "egg frying" is a business. It might be something your business does, but it is not your business.

Businesses do something people want done. That's the key. Every business, no matter what it is, has some product or service that its customers want and will pay for.

If you are in the "internet marketing" business, what exactly is it that you are offering your customers?

If you were in the "computer programming" business, you would offer them a computer program.

If you were in the "egg frying" business, you would offer them a fried egg.

What is it, exactly, that you are doing for your customers?

Do you know?

Do you care?

Because, increasingly, I am seeing people here who don't care.

They don't post much. They just run WSOs and mail affiliate offers. That's pretty much it.

What good is that?

Because it can be good. You can run badass incredible WSOs that are worth several times the cost. And you can mail affiliate offers for products that are just as badass and incredible. You can, in fact, care about your business and your customers and make an honest-to-God difference in this industry.

Do you?

Look, I'm not saying you have to be Mahatma freakin' Gandhi or anything. I know we've all got bills to pay and goals to reach and families to support. And there's nothing wrong with focusing on that more than on the deep questions of what you are doing and why. Especially in the early days, when you're struggling.

But sooner or later, you won't be struggling. You'll be looking at your business from the opposite end of the Maslovian heirarchy, and wondering where your social consciousness and self-actualisation are.

Just think about it. Not obsessively, but a little. Every so often, stop and take stock, and go "hey, what am I doing, and why am I not just some low-life thieving internet scumbag?"

If you can't answer that, you've got a problem. And the sooner you find it, the sooner you can fix it.

It's not all about the money. In fact, at a certain point, it's not about the money at all. So go ahead and make it about more than just the money.